Oh Ye of Pointy Stake
by Little Faith
Summary: AU. Set at the 10-year reunion of the SHS class of 1999, Buffy is transported to an alternate reality. The Scooby gang must put their trust in her once more as she tries to get them back to the world she came from.
1. Default Chapter

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of 1999, welcome back to the high school you never attended. I'm sure you recall the destruction of the old Sunnydale High School building, which occurred on the day of your graduation ceremony. I am Principal Dritz, the principal you never had. Most of you have never before set foot in the new Sunnydale High building. After 10 years, you're probably all anxious to discover what your former classmates have accomplished. I hope you all enjoy this reunion...and please try to leave the school in one piece."  
  
"It seems wrong that he's making jokes. People died on graduation day."  
  
"Buffy, people died during every event of our high school careers," Xander reminded her, "Homecoming, the field trips, prom, picture day, graduation day, career day, Tuesday...."  
  
"I know, but that doesn't mean it's okay to make light."  
  
"Highest mortality rate in the US. We can't take death seriously here, honey, the suicide rate would skyrocket." That made Buffy smile.   
  
"I have to admit, I'm anxious to find out what the gang's been up to since we last saw them."  
  
"Afraid they won't be impressed, Miss working-for-the-district-attorney-graduated-from-law-school?" Xander teased.   
  
"Law school? Well, I'm impressed," a familiar voice commented from behind them.  
  
"Well, we can't all be Daytime Emmy Award nominated actresses like you...Cordelia Chase," Buffy replied as she turned to greet her old schoolmate.  
  
"You are too kind. And who is this handsome gentleman with you?" she asked sweetly.  
  
"Oh, Cordy, I know you remember Officer Harris." Xander laughed at that introduction.  
  
"Officer? Xander's a cop?" Another friend had approached.  
  
"Willow!" Buffy hugged her old best friend.   
  
"Xander's a cop," he confirmed in the third person.  
  
"And Buffy is working for the district attorney, " Cordelia added.  
  
"And everyone in the country knows what Cordelia's been doing," the slayer chimed in. "How about you, Willow?"  
  
"I'm a computer programmer," she replied proudly.  
  
"Oh!" Cordelia suddenly remembered her date. "Everybody, this is Lance, he's one of the producers on the show." They introduced themselves to the handsome older man.  
  
"Hey, are you going to introduce..." Xander began.  
  
"Oh, of course," Willow said quickly. "This is my partner, Davis. She's an accountant."  
  
"I have a really great idea. We should..." Buffy was interrupted.  
  
"Isn't that Oz?" Xander asked. The others looked.  
  
"Oz!" Buffy called. "Wanna come with us?"  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Well," the slayer explained, "I was just about to suggest that we pay a visit to Giles."  
  
"Oh! That would be so great! I haven't seen him in practically forever," Willow replied joyously.  
  
The others seemed equally accepting of the idea and they left. Buffy and Xander led the way to a small dusty-looking shop. Inside, the walls were made up of brimming shelves of huge leather-bound books. Towers of ancient looking tomes reached toward the ceiling. They entered the little store carefully, avoiding knocking over the stacked volumes.   
  
"Giles?" Buffy called out. The former librarian emerged from behind a heavy oaken desk.   
  
"Buffy, Xander..." he greeted them, but as he saw the others his tone changed to one of confusion. "Willow, Cordelia, Oz..." He removed his glasses, wiping the lenses and settling them back on the bridge of his nose. "What are you all doing here of all places?"  
  
"The reunion," Buffy reminded him.  
  
"We were all in town for the reunion and thought we'd pay you a visit," Willow said with a friendly smile. Giles managed to locate a sufficient number of folding chairs and the old friends all sat in a close cluster.  
  
"Well, what have you all been doing since I last saw you?" he asked.  
  
"I'll start," Cordelia volunteered. "For those of you who don't know, I've been starring on the finest soap opera on the air today. The man sitting here next to me is my boyfriend, Lance. He's one of the show's producers. This year, I have been nominated for a daytime Emmy award for the third time and Lance assures me that this is the year. I'm going to win it this time," she said determinedly.   
  
"Congratulations, I'm glad to hear that your dreams are coming true," Giles said politely. "What about you, Willow?"  
  
"It's actually kind of funny," she began, "after I moved to Boston and got my degree, I ended up coming back out to California. I have a job in San Francisco as a computer programmer. While I was in Boston I met Davis and she was also able to get a job in San Francisco-- she's an accountant-- so we've been living together since we moved out here about eight months ago."  
  
"It's good to know your computer skills are being put to use," Giles replied. "Oz?"  
  
"Just another could-have-been rock star. Record contract, drugs and alcohol, legal trouble…more alcohol, more drugs..." He stared at the floor as he spoke. "Almost died last year," Oz added, almost as an afterthought.  
  
"What?" Buffy looked at him. "How?"  
  
"Accidental drug overdose...on purpose," he replied. He shrugged.  
  
"Accidental on purpose?" Giles asked.  
  
"You tell people it was accidental 'cause you don't want to admit that you were too drunk to kill yourself properly..."  
  
They all fell silent for a moment after that. "Buffy, Xander, why don't you tell your friends what you've been up to?" Giles suggested to finally break the awkward quiet.  
  
"Law school for Buffy, police academy for me. She works for the DA...we're out there punishing evil-doers just like always. And..." Xander trailed off to let Buffy continue.  
  
"We're engaged," she announced.  
  
"To each other?" Cordelia gasped.  
  
"Yes, to each other," the slayer replied with a laugh.   
  
"Congratulations," Giles sputtered, revealing that even he hadn't known. As Buffy and Xander were accepting the congratulations of their somewhat stunned friends, Buffy saw a sudden brilliance flare before her eyes. 


	2. Part 2

"Bright white light, bright white light..." strange voices chanted. They died away, Buffy felt as though she were falling.   
  
"Of their own free will, they must unite  
  
Whence may emerge eternal night  
  
Gathered there before dawn's light  
  
If they desire to set things right."  
  
As she heard the peculiar rhyme, Buffy closed her eyes to shut out the brilliant light. As she opened them, she found herself standing outside the Sunnydale city limits. The slayer began to walk through the town. Sunnydale seemed different somehow. The sun had just begun to set when she reached the high school. Or rather, the place where the high school should have been. Blackened ruins rotted in the fading light. 'As though it was never rebuilt,' she realized.   
  
Buffy paid little attention to a small, boarded up shop she passed until she realized that it stood where Giles's rare bookstore should have been. Many of the stores and buildings in the area were abandoned or destroyed; the streets seemed deserted. At last, Buffy saw one building that appeared to be open. 'The Bronze,' she recognized it and hastened to the familiar doors.  
  
Inside, looking around, she vaguely recognized the people but could not place them. A twinge of panic began to spread through her. So it was that the slayer nearly fainted with relief when she finally saw someone she knew. "Oz," she sighed. Muttering to herself, she said, "Maybe he knows something about...is that Jonathan?" Then she noticed the banner, which read 'Welcome SHS Class of '99'.  
  
'Everyone looks so different...' she thought. 'How am I supposed to find the old gang in this crowd?'  
  
"Buffy Summers?" a voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned to see a familiar young woman.  
  
"Cordelia! Listen, I need your help..." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Oz once again. "Come on." Grabbing Cordelia by the arm, Buffy pulled her through the crowd, towards Oz, calling his name.  
  
"Buffy, Cordy, what's up?" Oz asked as he finally saw them.  
  
"We need to find Willow and Xander and get out of here to someplace less crowded."  
  
"Buffy? Guys?"  
  
'Thank god they're finding me,' she thought. "Xander, great to see you. We need to find Willow and get out of here, I'll explain later but it's important." Just then Buffy caught a glimpse of red hair and slipped into the mob, instructing the others to stay put. "Willow!" the slayer yelled, struggling to be heard over the din. "Willow!" She looked around frantically, silently cursing the noise level.   
  
"Yes?" a voice responded directly behind her. Whirling around, Buffy smiled at the sight of her friend's face.  
  
"Come on, I have something to tell you, but only once we're all together and out of here." She led Willow back to where she had left the others only to discover that Oz was missing. "Where did he go?" she demanded.  
  
"He wanted to find his girlfriend," Cordelia explained. "He said he'd meet us outside."  
  
"Fine, let's get outside then," Buffy replied as she once again took charge. Once Oz rejoined them outside with a woman they assumed to be his date, Buffy wondered what she was supposed to do next. "Do any of you know where Giles lives?" she asked as inspiration struck. They shook their heads. "Okay. Not a problem." She saw a phone booth. "Not a problem at all." She ducked inside, flipping quickly through the phone book. "Giles, Rupert," she cried triumphantly as she tore the page brutally from the directory. "Let's go."  
  
"I don't think you're supposed to tear pages out of public phone books like that," Xander remarked.  
  
"I have my reasons and I will explain them to you all as soon as we're with Giles," Buffy promised, "Or as soon as we're out of the Twilight Zone," she added under her breath. "Who has a car we can use?" Oz stepped forth. "Where?" she asked.  
  
"Anywhere," he replied, pulling out a cell phone. Seconds later a sleek limo pulled up to the curb. They piled into the car as Buffy read off the address to the chauffeur. It took less than 20 minutes to find the house. Buffy led the way as they approached the door. She rang the bell and waited. When Giles answered, she barely recognized him. "Giles?"  
  
"Buffy?" He exclaimed. Sounding puzzled, he continued, "I thought you were dead…"  
  
"I'm sure you did. I have a lot to tell you or explain to you or whatever. Can we come in?"  
  
"Oh, yes of course," he replied. "Willow? Xander? Cordelia? Oz?" They filed into the living room and sat down.  
  
"Okay," Buffy began. "Here's what I've been able to figure out. I was at the class reunion. I found all of you and we went to see Giles. We all talked about what we'd been doing and everything and this is where it gets weird. I saw this light and heard all these creepy voices. Then all of the sudden I was at the Sunnydale city limits."  
  
"The voices you heard, what did they say?" Giles interrupted to ask.  
  
"Um, it was this really weird poem thing... 'of their own free will, they must unite, something about eternal night, gathered there before dawn's light, if they desire to set things right'. The way I figure it, it means that if you want things to be the way they were before I saw the bright white light, we have to all go somewhere together before sunrise. And you can't be dragged kicking and screaming."  
  
"Somewhere?" Xander asked. "Where?"  
  
"I think the more important question is: do we want things to be the way they are in this alternate reality? Assuming that Buffy didn't make the whole thing up," Cordelia responded.  
  
"Buffy?" Willow asked. "What's it like?"  
  
"Well, Willow, you're a computer programmer. You're living with someone. I didn't get to spend much time with you but you seemed really happy. What's your life like here?"  
  
"Not like that," she replied, shaking her head. "I couldn't finish college because the stress was too much. I'm on medication because I'm manic-depressive and I work as a waitress. I live alone except for my goldfish, Walter."  
  
"So, the other world would be better for you," Cordelia commented. "What about me?"  
  
"You're an actress. You star on a soap opera and date the producer. You are nominated for a daytime Emmy for the third year in a row. Cordelia, you're famous."  
  
"I'm a secretary at a dentist's office...he isn't even a good dentist," Cordelia admitted.  
  
"Do me!" Xander exclaimed. "I'm a check-out guy at a grocery store."  
  
"You are a police officer, Xander," Buffy informed him. "And we're engaged."  
  
"You and me?"  
  
"Yes. And Giles, you own a rare book shop, you're married to Olivia," she continued. "What do you do in this reality?"  
  
"Nothing," he divulged, "I've lost a series of dead-end jobs. I can barely afford this apartment."  
  
"What about me?" Oz asked although he hated to. "I'm a successful musician. I have a wonderful girlfriend," he slipped his arm around her as he spoke, "What do I do in your world?"  
  
"You were a musician, but you got arrested for possession of narcotics. You're an alcoholic who attempted suicide with a drug overdose. I wish I could tell you it wasn't true, but..." Buffy just trailed off.  
  
"Sounds like I really messed up my life."  
  
"Maybe we could decide this later," Willow offered. "I mean, we don't even know where we're supposed to go if we decide we want those other lives." It was obvious from her tone that she wanted desperately to go. 


	3. Part 3

"Whence may emerge eternal night," Giles muttered. He'd found the poem Buffy referred to in an old book left over from his days with the Watchers' Council. There hadn't been anything definitive about its meaning.  
  
"Why do they have to use words like 'whence'?" Xander complained.  
  
"It would be a place of darkness and evil..." Willow said.  
  
"Not just a place, an origin of evil," Oz corrected.  
  
"Someplace evil comes from? Um, Hell?" Cordelia suggested.  
  
"The Hellmouth," Buffy said it first.  
  
"Wow. That was almost too easy," Willow declared.  
  
"You still have to decide whether or not you want to go," the slayer reminded her.  
  
"Gee, fame and fortune or reminding people to floss, that is a tough one," Cordelia remarked sarcastically.  
  
"If the other world is at all the way Buffy described it, I'm way happier there," Willow agreed.  
  
"You ALL have to choose to go. If even one of you wants to stay, you all have to stay," Buffy pointed out.  
  
"Who wants to stay here?" Xander asked. "I say we go."  
  
"I agree," Giles added. They all looked to Oz.  
  
"I hate to be the voice of dissent, but it seems I'm the only one who really stands to lose anything. I've got a lot to lose and there's nothing to be gained." He looked at his girlfriend. "Do you think, in the other world, we'll remember what happened here?"  
  
As the others pondered his question, Oz spoke quietly with his girlfriend and after several moments, she departed. Buffy gave her response, "I don't know if we'll remember. But I remember things from that world even though I'm here now."  
  
"Maybe you'll be the only one to remember, Buffy," Giles observed.  
  
Oz sighed a little. "If, when we get to the other world, you're the only one who remembers, tell me...just tell me to get my act together."  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this, Oz?"  
  
"Make sure I check myself into rehab or something. I can't believe I'd wind up so far down."  
  
"It isn't your fault, Oz..." Buffy replied.  
  
"Sure it is," he argued. "But maybe I can fix it, if you remind me to."  
  
"And if the rest of us do remember, we'll all make sure you're all right," Willow promised.  
  
"And if we don't, Buffy will remind us," Xander assured him.  
  
"You aren't going to give up your happiness just to have us not help," Cordelia added.  
  
"Let's get to the Hellmouth," Oz said quietly. They got lost twice but finally reached the old school only a few minutes before dawn. They strode through the ruins to where the library had once stood. The friends formed a circle around the location of the Hellmouth.  
  
"I wonder if this is the right place," Giles said.  
  
"I wonder if Buffy was telling the truth," Cordelia added.  
  
"I wonder if we'll all remember or just Buffy," Xander commented.  
  
"I wonder if we'll believe her," Willow whispered.  
  
"I wonder what will happen if she doesn't remember either." The slightest tremor in his voice revealed Oz's fear. There was no more time for wondering as the brilliance white light flared before them.  
  
They were seated in the same small cluster in Giles's bookstore. "I feel like something just happened," Willow said softly.  
  
"Something must have," Giles replied. "It's nearly dawn." They sat in silence for a moment.  
  
"I wonder what it could have been," Buffy finally said. "It guess we'll never know." 


End file.
